Launching a Framer site for a client: the checklist

What usually breaks at handoff

The first five are launch blockers: while any of them fails, the score is capped at 49 however well everything else scores. Each one links to the full guide.

• Site not served over HTTPS (blocks launch): The page is not served over a secure (HTTPS) connection. Check: HTTPS.

• Noindex left on after launch (blocks launch): The page asks search engines to leave it out of their results. Check: Search indexing.

  Check the site's SEO and indexing options in your site settings, and any page-level setting that hides a page from search.

• robots.txt blocks Google (blocks launch): robots.txt shuts out Google or every crawler, so search engines cannot crawl the site. Check: robots.txt.

• Canonical points to staging (blocks launch): The page tells search engines its real address is on another host, often staging, so the live page can drop out of Google. Check: Canonical.

  A canonical set by hand keeps the address you typed. Search the project for the framer.app or framer.website address.

• Form posts to staging (blocks launch): A form on the page sends what visitors type somewhere other than the live site. Check: Form destination.

  Forms from another tool, or embeds that post to a staging endpoint, keep posting there until you change them.

  # Framer: select the form on the canvas and check where it sends
  # submissions in the right-hand panel. If it posts to a webhook or custom
  # URL on a staging address, change it to your live endpoint, publish
  # again, send a test submission, then re-check.

• Placeholder text left in: The page still shows template filler text, such as dummy Latin copy or a leftover to-do marker. Check: Placeholder text.

• No sitemap: Search engines are given no list of the site's pages to crawl. Check: Sitemap.

• No Open Graph image: Links shared in chat apps and social media show no proper preview. Check: Open Graph.

• Share image does not load: The picture meant for link previews does not load, so shared links show no image. Check: Share image loads.

• Mixed content on an HTTPS page: Some files on this secure page load over an insecure connection, so browsers block them or show a warning. Check: Mixed content.

  # Framer serves its own files over HTTPS, so http:// URLs come from code
  # you added. Look in the site's custom code (Site Settings) and in every
  # Embed component on the page. Change each http:// to https://, publish
  # again, then re-check.

• Images missing alt text: Some images have no text description for screen readers and search engines. Check: Image alt.

• Missing HSTS header: Browsers are not told to always use the secure connection. Check: HSTS.

  Framer sends this header by default on published sites, so a failure here points at the domain or a proxy in front of it.

  # Framer sends Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000 by default on
  # published sites. If it is missing, check the domain is published on Framer
  # hosting. To change the value: Site Settings > Hosting > Headers (Advanced
  # Hosting add-on), Path /*, Header Strict-Transport-Security.

• Too little text on the page: There is very little readable text on the page for visitors and search engines. Check: Visible copy.

Moving an existing site?

If the client's old site was on WordPress or another platform, its old URLs need permanent redirects (301 or 308) to the new pages, or the search traffic they bring stops at a 404. Migration Repair maps them, puts the redirects in and checks them live, for $500 per site.